OPINION — It goes without saying that the House passage of measures that would strengthen our nation’s background check system and expand background checks to every single gun purchase is a major step toward building safer American schools and communities. It’s a significant win for the millions of Americans who took to the streets last year to demand congressional action to help solve our national gun crisis.

Background checks, after all, have stopped 3.5 million gun sales and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. States that require background checks for all handgun sales have lower rates of intimate partner gun homicides of women, law enforcement officers killed with handguns and gun-related suicides.